When you mentioned addiction and that we sometimes don’t really know why we buy something, I can relate. I usually do this with clothes. But I have recently learned that it’s only because they are newer. Because they are newer I think they are better, but I’ve learnt that is not the case.

Thanks,

Sarah.

until recently (bought it last week), and there’s two main motivations:
a) i might be starting a side project that involves customization of the wii controller, which is utilitarian, it’s a need, easy to classify.
b) and the main reason for my purchase: my mother have shown interest in playing with the wii. the thought of seeing them playing with the wii is worthwhile enough for me. I am not sure where this would classify under.

Jerry

It’s not very easy to recognize what we do want exactly; the need seekers of the company extract our wish and makes our desired product and marketing technique makes us buy the product we are looking for. Example, ATM machine, in this very busy world people do not wanted to go the bank for collecting money, people felt bank should provide the money in a easer and shorter way, but don’t know how. And ATM machine has been made.

So, I think what makes people buy, is their own comfort and happiness.
Have a nice discussion.

Wadud

we feel we buy things because we really do need them but thats not really always the case- we do get “brain washed” so to speak, in thinking we really do need this product and we choose to buy it in on our own but no no no thats the great thing about advertising, some won’t admit it works but it really does e.g a new chocolate comes out called “Fizz Wizz” you see an advert on the telly and think “humm i wonder what that taste likes” so you go to the shop and buy one…. soooo did you make this chose on your own, well yes as you’ve yourself decided to go to the shop and try this chocolate out BUT its the advert that perswaded you to do so therefore it wasn’t really your chose….. many products have made us less human beings than in the past because we depend on technology so much e.g mobiles- they were great when they frist came out, yo can communicate without neding to be at home greeat stuff that is! and and now more and more added onto it to be different creating needs we don’t really need

its not that i am against new products and our growth in technology, not at all, i just view it as something interesting to think about espically when you talk to older people and they say “back in my day there was only….” its all good fun to chat about

An example could be buying a car with a better milage or electrical products with a lower energy consumption, because it means more money for other stuff, or buying a ipod with a larger memory because we don’t have to spend time putting music into it.

Overall these day “more time” seems to have a very high “life optimization value”. And lets face it – who among us do not wish they have more time.

You refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs in terms of the key drivers for purchasing decisions. Although this may be more true in consumer purchases; most B2B purchases have been proven to dissasociate this from the buying process.

This is due to the fact that, although it is people who make buying decisions in companies; they have certain processes and procedures that they must follow before making a purchase (specially in larger organisations or with larger purchases). Thus, emotive side of purchasing is minimised, which is good business practice.

If we are to use my 7 Sins model; then Avariceand sloth would be the main contenders.

Appeal to your prospects with prases like:
“Making home sales effortless”
“Our service is proven to make home sales easier and quicker”

Since its a B2B sell, then there will be far less emotions involved in the buying process, but lets not forget that selling your service to agencies can also be achieved through pride and anger thus:
“Crush the competition with X service”
“Sell your client’s home faster than anyone else”
“The best agencies choose us because…”

I hope this helps

Sam

The Seven Deadly Sins
Pride: Armani, Ferrari, Mercedes, Champagne, etc are all bought out of pride.
Anger: Not just guns, but also things like animal repelents to get even with the neighbour’s dog and other forms of upmanship can be classified here.
Avarice: Anything that is bougt because it saves or makes money.
Gluttony: All you can eat restaurants are a perfect example of this.
Lust: (closely related to pride) Perfumes, dietary products, or anything else that will increase our chances to get lucky.
Envy: Closely related to anger, upmanship purchases fit this nicely.
Sloth: everything that makes your life easier or saves you time.

Time frames really have to come in here. You invest for the next hour or for 20 years down the track. It isn’t necessarily fear based, but can be – maybe to support some long term picture of how things could/should be.

Don’t you think people are confusing “why people buy” with “how do they choose what to get after they’ve decided to buy”. Deciding to buy and deciding what to buy are 2 very different things. I would submit that all the reasons people buy fall into 5 categories: Basic Needs, Convenience, Peace of Mind, Image/Ego, and Entertainment. You might think there are more, but if you look at the other reasons hard you will see they are all means to addressing one of these 5 things. Why we buy is pretty basic compared to how we decided what to buy (is this making any sense that there is a differentiation between the two decisions?) If you hope to influence someones buying decision you must first recognize why they are buying (what’s the core human nature reason), and then focus your message around helping them address that reason (or problem if you want to call it that – I guess not having enough fun is a problem to be solved . Here are two quick links I hope add something to this discussion.

http://freemanagementtips.com/Business101/1.2-WhyPeopleBuy.html
http://freemanagementtips.com/Business101/1.4-HowPeopleFindSolutions.html

Or are we talking B2C?

People are motivated to buy in anticipation of gaining more respect, love, power, etc. People will also buy in order to reduce the anticipation of something they fear, such as the loss of respect, love, power, etc.

It can be hard to tell if solving an apparent problem helps or hurts the prospect. For the manager whose income is correlated to his expense budget, reducing costs will just reduce his income – something he would fear, and try to avoid.